My Best T – Part 1

 Hello!

This first part is going to stay short. Why? Because I'm writing it Thursday evening after a very full day of getting 335 people voted in 8 hours. With only three of us working. The fourth lady in the office has a concussion so she can only do things at her desk like computer stuff and answering the phones. You can be praying for her. The rest of us walked about 2.2 miles just in the office today. Talk about busy! There were no breaks in the lines of people. And I'm working all day tomorrow too.

So if you think about us tomorrow, you can pray for strength. :)

This story is the first part in a 5 part Thanksgiving story I wrote some years ago. I hope you enjoy it.

My Best Thanksgiving

Part 1

    Isn’t it strange how some events remain so clearly fixed in your memory that it seems as though they happened yesterday or last week when in actuality they took place ten, twenty or even forty years ago? I have a few memories that are like that but the one I remember the most was the Thanksgiving I was eleven.
    It began like most of our vacation trips did, with a lot of confusion, noise and busyness. But what else would you expect with a family of nine? Dad had wanted to leave by seven-thirty Monday morning, but Sunday night, even though we stayed up really late trying to get things ready, it didn’t look like it would work. We were all grumpy and needed to go to bed. The usual bed time for the younger three was eight but they were still up at ten! Not even the older three stay up that late usually. Finally Dad gave a whistle and we all hurried into the kitchen.
    “All right, kids,” he said. “This is not working. You are all tired and grumpy. Does everyone have their personal things packed? Things to do in the car and anything you wanted to take along to play with?”
    Emmy, Vicki and Jason nodded their heads. I did too. That had been the easy stuff to pack. I packed a few books to read, my crossword book, camera, Bible and a blank notebook. You never know when a piece of notebook paper will come in handy. I had also grabbed a few pens and pencils.
    Dad was talking again. “Good! Jason, Emmy and Vicki, get your clothes on for tomorrow and go to bed. I want you three in bed in five minutes. Understand?”
    “Yes, Daddy,” they chorused and raced off.
    “Carol, Ginger,” Dad turned to my oldest sisters, “are your suitcases packed?”
    “Almost,” Carol replied. “We just have to add the last few things in the morning.”
    “And I have what I’m taking packed, too, Dad,” Ginger added.
    “Good.” Glancing about the room with a slight frown, Dad next addressed Lee and me. Lee’s the oldest of us kids. He was seventeen. Carol was next at fifteen and Ginger was fourteen. As I said before, I was eleven. My name is Reagan, but I’m called Ray most of the time. I was the middle child and didn’t have anyone close to me in age. The younger three were eight, seven and six, with Emmy the oldest and Jason the last. I had a hard time figuring out just where I fit in, for I wasn’t often considered one of the older ones but the younger ones were a bit too young to be good companions. It didn’t usually bother me much. I guess I was used to being a loner. So when Dad said my name along with Lee’s, I was surprised!
    “I want you boys to get the other suitcases. Leave the girls’, and bring the others down here to the kitchen table.”
    “Even if they aren’t packed yet?” Lee asked.
    “Especially if they aren’t packed.”
    We hurried off. I dashed upstairs and grabbed mine first. It wasn’t packed at all because I’d no sooner start to work on it when I’d get called to do something else. I snatched up Jason’s as well, then hurried down the stairs passing Lee on the way. In no time flat we had all of them on the table in a line. The older girls and Mom kept theirs.
    I’m not very good at packing suitcases because I always forget something. But this way was easy. Dad would tell us how many of what thing to get and Lee and I would dash off and bring them back and just dump them in the right suitcase. Once we had everything, Dad left us to pack them while he went to tell the younger three good-night.
    After a little while, just as we were zipping up the last suitcase, Mom came out of her room looking really tired.
    “Sit down and rest, Mom,” Lee said, pulling out a chair.
    Mom sat down but shook her head. “I don’t have time to rest. There is still so much to do. We haven’t even started on the kitchen stuff, sleeping bags, blankets, coats—” she sighed. Glancing at the table with its row of suitcases she asked, “What’s that?”
    “All the suitcases except yours and the older girls’,” I told her. “Dad had us pack them.”
    I was wondering what we were supposed to do next, but Dad came in then and ended any wondering.
    “Janet,” he said to Mom, “I just sent Carol and Ginger to bed. They do better early in the morning and they can finish their things then. The younger three are in bed and that is where you are going now.”
    Mom snorted. “Not if you still want to leave by seven-thirty.”
    Dad grinned. There seemed to be nothing he liked better than a challenge like that. “You just wait and see. I’ve got the two helpers I need and you are going to bed.” He pulled her out of the chair, put an arm around her and kissed her nose. “Ray, go to the garage and get out sleeping bags for each of us. Lee, bring the coolers in and start packing the food box.”
    That was the start of it. Mom did go to bed and just Dad, Lee and I were up. I didn’t realize how much it took for us to go on a two week vacation nor how quickly we could get things ready when the younger three were in bed. It was eleven-thirty when Dad glanced around the front room. There were stacks and piles everywhere, but we knew exactly what was in each pile and could load it quickly in the morning.
    “Good work, sons. Thanks,” Dad said before sending us to bed. We would load the trailer in the morning. 

Do you ever run into problems like this family did with packing?

Would you rather stay up late to pack or get up early?

How was your week?

Lawrence & Lenexa – Part 3

 Good morning, Faithful Friday Fiction Fans,

What a week! Things at the office have really picked up and we've gone from voting around 150 people a day to over 220 people. I haven't gotten a whole lot of filing done, but that's okay. Sometimes I can get a card or two filed while we wait for voters to finish before we can let others inside because our space is pretty small. I wasn't scheduled to work today, but things are so busy that I offered and they jumped at the extra help. I've never worked on a Friday before but I've heard it's crazy busy. And I thought yesterday was busy. ;) Thankfully, we've had a great deputy helping keep order in the halls, getting sample ballots for people as they wait so they vote faster, and helping entertain any little ones. And people said the wait is only about 10-20 minutes. Much better than a 2 hour or more wait at the polls on Election Day that people are expecting.

With all that going on, I don't feel like writing at all when I get home. I catch up on emails and messages I need to read at Camp, and other things. We are counting the days until the election is over. 

Anyway, you can be praying that things go well and smoothly. 

Here's the next part of my story. Enjoy!

 Lawrence and Lenexa

    Lawrence rose and picked up his backpack. “Sorry, Mom. I forgot I hadn’t changed.”
    Lenexa sat up. “Mom, can we do something together this weekend?”
    Mrs. Johnson glanced down at her watch. “Like what, Lenexa?”
    “Oh, I don’t know, have a picnic or go to the park. You know, something fun.”
    “I don’t see how we can fit one more thing into this weekend, Lenexa. Dad has a very important meeting with a client tomorrow at one. And you know that Sunday is my bridge club. But maybe you can play golf with your father then. But change quickly now. We are eating supper early tonight.” She stepped from doorway into the hall. “Lawrence.”
    “Yeah?” Lawrence called from behind the closed door of his room.
    Mrs. Johnson sighed. “I do wish you wouldn’t shout, son. We are eating supper early so don’t take a long time changing. And make sure you put on proper dinner clothing, not shorts and a T-shirt this evening.”
    “I won’t, Mom.”
    Lenexa opened the door of her room and stood still.
    “Lenexa Marie Elizabeth Johnson!” her mother exclaimed. “Surely you were not planning on wearing that to the dinner table!”
    Glancing down, Lenexa didn’t see anything amiss. “Why not? What’s wrong with it?”
    “Your slip is showing at least half an inch. Now either find a different slip, or put on a different dress. One that is long enough to look decent.”
    “Can I just wear it without the slip? It’s just for supper–”
    “Absolutely not. No child of mine is going to come to the table half undressed. Now hurry. Your father won’t want to be kept waiting.”
    Shutting the door, Lenexa hurried back to her closet. The trouble was she had been growing. Her dresses were looking shorter, and most of her slips were too small. Except the one she was wearing. After trying on three dresses and finding that the slip still showed. Lenexa was desperate. Her mother had called her twice, and the tone of her voice said her patience was nearly gone. Grabbing a couple of safety pins, Lenexa pulled up the waistband of the slip and folded it over, pinning it in place. It was difficult to pin the back evenly, and she finally gave up trying. “As long as it doesn’t show it should work.”
    In the hall, Mrs. Johnson eyed her daughter’s outfit carefully. “You do have a slip on, right?”
    “Yes, ma’am.”
    “Then let us go down to dinner. Mr. Edger and his wife are joining us for dessert, but you and Lawrence won’t be required to eat with us.”
    Lenexa merely nodded. Mr. Edger, a lawyer from the same firm where her father worked, was friendly when alone, but neither Lenexa nor her brother cared for his wife.

*

    Mounting the stairs to their rooms, the twins looked at each other and sighed. It had been a long evening. Supper had been all right though it was a bit rushed, for the Edgers were known to be early. They were early. A whole twenty minutes early. Mrs. Johnson had the table cleared away quickly even though Lawrence was still eating. After the twins had greeted their guests politely, they were excused to eat their dessert outside. There they had remained until it began to grow dark.
    “I’m glad Mrs. Cook let me eat something else after dessert,” Lawrence murmured to his sister. “I might have starved before breakfast tomorrow.”
    “You wouldn’t have starved, Larry,” Lenexa retorted with a grin. “But you might have been awfully hungry.” Stopping in the hall, she asked, “What are we going to do tomorrow?”
    “Sleep in. Then I don’t know what. I wish we had those papers to fill out for camp.”
    Lenexa sighed. “Yeah, me too. Well, I’m going to bed. Night, Larry.”
    “Good night, Lexi.”

*

    Saturday, Sunday, and then Monday finally dragged their slow, reluctant days away, and then it was Tuesday.
    Lenexa was late for breakfast and had to rush through her meal in order to leave for school on time. There was no time to talk with her brother until they were in the car, and even then she couldn’t very well bring up the subject that was foremost in her mind.
    All during school that morning Lenexa fought to stay focused. Catching her brother’s arm in the hall, she dragged him to the side and whispered, “Do you think she’s put it there yet?”
    Lawrence shrugged. “Maybe. Let’s go eat.” He started down the hall toward the stairs.
    Keeping step with him, Lenexa wasn’t ready to let the subject drop. “What if she gives the papers to Mom? Or forgets to bring them?”
    “If she forgets than we’ll have to wait until Saturday. If she gives them to Mom, well–” He waited for a few students to hurry ahead of them down the stairs. “If Mom gets them then I’m guessing we’ll either have to do some pretty fancy persuading and hope we can get Dad on our side, or we’ll just have to forget the whole thing, listen to our lecture, and go to our usual camp.”
    “Oh!” Lenexa moaned. She felt like sitting down on the stairs but knew she’d get a lecture if a teacher saw her.
    “Come on, Lex, buck up. We only have a few more hours before we know.” Lawrence didn’t feel as confident as he tried to sound. Though he wouldn’t admit it then, he was worried too.
    
    Somehow the twins managed to finish the school day without any reprimands for absentmindedness, and they met each other at the door. Lenexa’s face was eager and excited.
    “You look too eager, Lex,” Lawrence murmured, as they were swept along by the crowd. “Mom might notice.”
    “Well, I got an A+ on my last history paper, and school is almost over.”
    “Yeah, but don’t bring the end of school up or Mom’ll remember summer camp.”
    Instantly Lenexa’s face sobered. “Oh, yeah. There’s the car.”
    Scrambling into the back seat, the twins answered their mom’s usual “How was school today” question in their usual way. She made no mention of any summer camp, or of any note from Saundra. 

 

Have you ever helped with Elections?

Did you get any writing done this week?

Would you want to go to a new summer camp?

Lawrence & Lenexa – Part 2

 Hello,

How are you this Friday morning? It is, Friday, right? I hope so because I'm not going in to work. ;) And my nieces and nephews are here. Right now I'm typing this one handed since I'm cuddling my youngest nephew who wanted "BehBeh."

Work has been busier. We've been voting over 100 people a day this week.

The King's Daughters' Writing Camp has officially started. We have 81 people at camp so far. ;)

 

Lawrence and Lenexa

Part 2

    “What if . . .” Lawrence looked out the window, then down at the table, before glancing up at his sister. “What if we went somewhere else.”
    Lenexa’s eyes widened. “Larry,” she whispered as though afraid someone else would hear, “what do you mean?”
    “Well, when I went on that bike ride last Saturday with Saundra’s brothers, you know they came over when she came to clean–”
    Lenexa nodded quickly but said nothing.
    “We stopped down at the creek to take a break and got to talking. They mentioned that they go to some camp called Mountain View something-or-other. I don’t remember it all, but they were saying how much fun they had and how great it was. They even invited me to go with them.”
    Lenexa’s face fell. “Is it just a boy’s camp?”
    “No. They said you could come too. It’s some kind of Bible camp or something.”
    Lenexa turned back to her paper. “Well, it’s no use thinking about that. You know Mom would never let us go to a Bible camp.”
    “Dad might.”
    Folding her arms on the table, Lenexa leaned forward. “But we don’t even know where it is, what it is, when it is, or how to get there.”
    “I have a paper they gave me about it. I haven’t read it yet. I finished my homework and can go get it. You?”
    “Let me finish these last few questions, then I’ll be finished.” Quickly Lenexa bent over her paper and scribbled answers to the remaining three questions while Lawrence hurried from the room.
    He returned a moment later. Pausing, he quickly locked the door behind him before rushing back to the table. There were certain people in the house that he didn’t want surprising them, or any plans of attending a different camp would be dashed.
    For several minute the two heads bent over the paper. Every line was read. Lawrence got out the large atlas and looked up the town closest to the camp. That’s where they would be picking up campers who came in on a bus.
    “Wouldn’t this be a great place to spend two weeks?” he asked.
    Lenexa nodded. “But how can we get the forms to fill out? If we had those we could fill them out and get Daddy to sign them. He wouldn’t care or even notice probably, if we went to a different camp this year.”
    “Why don’t we ask Saundra when she’s here on Saturday.”
    “She’s not coming Saturday,” Lenexa said. “I overheard her telling Mrs. Hamstead that she had to clean tomorrow because of something else that was going on. Mrs. Hamstead wasn’t very happy.” She twisted a strand of hair around her finger and frowned. “And we’ll be in school.”
    “Maybe one of us could pretend to be sick.”
    Lenexa just looked at him.
    “Then again, Mom would probably call up Dr. Hathaway and it would all be over. Could we leave her a note?”
    Lenexa’s face brightened. “Of course! She cleans our rooms, and I know the perfect place to put a note where she’ll be sure to find it and no one else will notice. Come on, let’s get it written right now.”
    It took some time to agree on just what the note should say, but at last it was written. The twins gathered their books, stuffed them into their backpacks for the next day, and then Lenexa hurried to her room to put the note in its hiding place.

    The rest of the day passed as it usually did. The twins ate a dull supper sitting alone in the large dining room. “We should just eat in the kitchen,” grumbled Lawrence.
    Lenexa nodded with her mouth full. Often they had tried to get Mrs. Hamstead to agree to letting them eat in the kitchen with the cook, the gardener, and one of the maids who lived in the house, but she never would agree to it.
    “Your mother would never approve,” she always said. And by the tone of her voice, it was obvious that she didn’t approve either.
    “I wish Mrs. Hamstead would take a vacation again,” Lawrence grumbled. “Mrs. Cook didn’t mind us eating in there with them.”
    The Johnson’s cook really bore the last name of Cook, which greatly amused and delighted the twins. She and Saundra were their favorite members of the staff and the closest things the children had for friends in the large mansion.

*

    When they came home from school the next. day, Lawrence didn’t suggest a race to change clothes. Instead he followed his sister into her room. “Is it gone?” he whispered even though no one else was around.
    Lenexa looked around. “No–yes! She left a note!” Snatching it quickly, she opened it and read, “I should be able to get those papers for you when I come on Tuesday. My brothers will be excited if you both can attend camp with them this year. Saundra.”
    “Now we just have to wait until Tuesday.”
    “It feels like ages to wait,” Lenexa agreed, sinking down onto her bed. “Maybe Mom and Dad will be free to do something with us this weekend.”
    Dropping his backpack onto the floor, Lawrence sat down cross-legged beside it. “Like what?”
    “I don’t know. Go to the park or have a picnic. You know, something other kids do with their parents.” She shrugged.
    “It’d be fun, but I wouldn’t count on it. Maybe we can get someone to take us to the library tomorrow, and we can get some new books to read.”
    With a sigh, Lenexa fell backwards on her bed. “I suppose. But I get tired of reading all weekend, every weekend. I’d like–”
    “Lawrence Johnson!” Their mother’s voice in the doorway interrupted their talk. “How many times have I told you not to sit on the floor with your school clothes on? You’ll ruin them. And Lenexa, honey, lounging like that is a good way to give you back troubles later on in life.”

How was your week?

Are you doing Camp this time?

Do you want to read the next part of this story?

Lawrence & Lenexa – Part 1

 Good morning!

It's been a busy week for me. Not a lot of different things, but working almost full time at the County Clerk's office here in town for 7.5 hours each day has been different. ;) I've done a lot of filing, getting people registered to vote, and voting people. I've learned all kinds of things about elections and how things work in the office and behind the scenes. 

With work, I haven't had a lot of time to do other things. However, there is the Five Fall Favorites blog party going on! Today is the LAST day to enter the giveaway! Have you entered yet? If not, will you help us reach 60 people entered? That's just over 10 people. If you have entered, can you find 1 or 2 people you can get to enter?

I'm home until Tuesday, and boy, do I have a lot of things to do! Things to clean up, put away, take care of. Things to write, format, edit. Things to organize, tidy, figure out. Things to prepare, sign up for, create. Yep, I won't be just sitting around wondering what to do. ;)

Today's story is the very first part of my novel "Lawrence and Lenexa" (working title). Enjoy.

 

Lawrence & Lenexa

Part 1

    “Mrs. Hamstead will be picking you up today after school, remember?” Mrs. Johnson said, stopping her silver Cadillac in front of Biltmore Preparatory School where her two children attended. “And Dad and I have a dinner tonight.”
    Climbing from the car, Lawrence nodded. “Got it.”
    Lenexa gave a wave. “Bye, Mom.”
    As the silver Cadillac pulled out into traffic, the siblings glanced at each other with a shrug. “I don’t know why she bothered telling us they have a dinner,” Lawrence muttered, slinging his backpack over his shoulder. “They seem to always have a dinner, or a meeting, or something.”
    Beside him, Lenexa nodded and brushed back her light brownish-red hair. “Maybe we can do something then. After orchestra.” She shifted her violin case to the other hand.
    Together they walked up to the front doors of their school. They were almost the same height, although Lenexa was just over a quarter of an inch taller than her twin brother.Her bangs pulled back in a dark ribbon. Both wore their school uniforms with white shirts. Lawrence had on dark slacks while Lenexa wore her dark plaid, pleated skirt. They looked just like the dozens of other students arriving and were soon swallowed up in the crowd and swept into the stuffy, snobbish halls of Biltmore Prep leaving no time for further conversation.

*

    The sun was bright and the afternoon was warm, indicating the approach of summer and the longed for end of the school term. Mrs. Hamstead was waiting in the car when the twins finally emerged at the end of the school day. She was the Johnson’s housekeeper and rarely spoke to the children of the house unless necessity required it, for she didn’t like children. It was only in extreme circumstances that she would condescend to pick up the twins from their school.
    Today had been one of those days. With a grim face, she waited in silence until they had climbed into the back of the car and fastened their seat belts, and then, still without a word, she pulled away from the curb.
    Sensing tension, Lawrence ventured to roll his eyes, at his sister and Lenexa bit back a giggle. Both knew it would never do to get Mrs. Hamstead in a worse mood than she already was, so they kept silent and watched the landscape flash by the windows.
    The country atmosphere that surrounded the prep school gave way to high office buildings, bustling lanes of traffic, and occasionally the lights and sirens that signaled an accident. Mrs. Hamstead, though she wasn’t an enjoyable companion, was an excellent driver, and before long the majority of the traffic was left behind and the car turned onto a winding residential street. The houses were modest, single story affairs and Lenexa and Lawrence had often privately wondered what it would be like to live in a house that small. As they continued on, the houses grew larger, the lawns more spacious, and finally Mrs. Hamstead turned onto a long driveway and parked before the Johnson’s house.
    Large, grand, three-stories tall, this mansion was the home of Mr. Lawrence Lancaster Johnson III, attorney at law, his wife, Camilia Lenexa Johnson, and their son and daughter. It was also the working place of several “hired help” who cleaned, cooked, tended the yard, washed the cars, and maintained the appearance of the Johnson home in general.
    “See to it that you do your homework before you do anything else,” Mrs. Hamstead ordered, speaking suddenly as she parked the car.
    “Yes, ma’am,” chorused the twins before scrambling out of the car. They wanted to run into the house but knew that would only bring a scolding from the housekeeper, so they contented themselves with a brisk though dignified walk.
    Once inside, however, they dashed up the stairs to the second floor, down the hall and stopped before their rooms gasping for breath.
    “Race you in changing,” Lawrence challenged.
    “You have to let me put my violin down first,” Lenexa said, “or the new string might come loose again. Not that I would care very much, but my teacher would probably scold.”
    “Okay, but then you have to come back into the hall so we can start at the same time.”
    Lenexa grinned and hurrying into her room, carefully set her violin case right side up on the plush, cream couch. Then she ran back to the hall. “Ready, go!”
    The race was over in minutes with both children jerking open their bedroom doors within half a second of each other. This brought a laugh.
    “Now homework. Ugh,” Lawrence groaned. “I can’t wait until school is out!”
    “Me too.” Lenexa grabbed her backpack. “Let’s go to the play room and do our work there.”
    Her brother nodded, and they crossed the hall and entered the large room. Windows on two sides let in plenty of light while bookshelves lined most of one wall and the floor was thickly carpeted. This had been the room where the twins had spent much of their time when they were young. Even now the large closet held their favorite childhood toys, remnants of their monotonous life.
    Not thinking about the past, the twins were soon seated at a table near one of the windows with their homework spread out. Almost complete silence filled the large room for some time with only the turning of a page and the scratching of a pencil to disturb the stillness.
    “Lexie,” Lawrence said at last, fiddling with his pencil.
    “What?”
    “Summer’s coming.”
    “Yeah.” Lenexa looked up at her brother expectantly.
    “Where do you think we’ll go to camp?”
    “Same place as always.” Lenexa couldn’t keep back a sigh. “It’ll be boring as usual, and the snobs in the cabin will be just as annoying, and when we come home Mom and Dad will say, ‘Did you have fun?’ but won’t have time to listen to us say more than yes or no.”

Have you entered the FFF giveaway?

Have you ever been to Summer Camp?

What did you do this week?

Double Feature

 Good morning readers!

It's cold here this morning. 39º. Goodbye chiggers! The trees are really starting to turn now, and I'm thinking of sweaters, cozy sweatshirts, fires and s'mores, blankets, hot drinks, and good books. :)

This week was my first week back at work. I wasn't supposed to start until next week, but I got called and asked if I could come in a week early. This week I only worked 4 hours a day Mon–Thurs, but next week I'll go in at 9 and will work until 4:30. Lots of filing and getting people voted or registered. It's fun, but this week has felt long for me. Perhaps next week will go by faster.

On another note, Camp started! Well, we opened camp. This is the second KDWC (King's Daughters' Writing Camp) and we already have over 50 campers attending!

I got the proof copies for "Lake Wood," "Saving Miss Christmas," and "What Tommy Didn't Know." I can't wait to get them edited, and published so you all can read them!

Today I'm giving you two stories. One is especially for younger siblings. Can you guess which one? ;)

 

Mary was a Little Lamb

    Jane was lonely. This was the third day she had spent at Grandma and Grandpa’s, and now she was by herself. Grandpa was working on something in his study, and Grandma and Aunt Mercy were busy with some writing class that was coming up. Poor little Jane. Though she was only four, she had kept a smile on her face until she was outside. Now, however, her chin quivered and her lips trembled. Her big, bright blue eyes filled with tears. What could she do now that no one could play with her?
    For several minutes she sat and cried softly. Not only was she lonely, she missed her Mommy and Daddy who had gone on a trip. If only she had someone or something to play with. Her sad thoughts were interrupted by a bleat.
    Shaking back the mass of red curls which fell about her tear-stained face and clustered on her neck, Jane wiped away the tears and looked up. The nearby rail fence was before her, but it was the ebony creature lying down, silhouetted against the lush summer grass growing behind the fence which caught her eye.
    Skipping over to the fence Jane peered between the rails. Another bleat came from the black form and it stood up on wobbly legs. Jane gave an involuntary giggle, and the lamb, for so it was, turned to look at her. For several moments the young creatures gazed at each other in the bright sunshine while above their heads in the azure sky, small cream puffs of clouds danced and skipped in the breeze as though inviting the pair below to join them.
    The lamb seemed to accept the invitation for it gave a little skip on its slender legs. Jane giggled. The lamb came closer making friendly little noises. In an instant Jane had climbed the rough rail fence and stood looking at the lamb. A smile wreathed her tear-stained face. Here was a friend who could play with her! This lamb didn’t need to study or write and it certainly didn’t need to go on any trips. Reaching out a gentle hand, Jane stroked the woolly head. The lamb on its part nuzzled Jane’s skirt.
    “Okay, little lamb,” Jane told it, “let’s play tag.” With a laugh Jane turned and danced away calling over her shoulder, “You’re it.”
    Joyfully the lamb frolicked after Jane and butted her softly.
    “Now I’m it! You have to run!”
    And so the game continued, sometimes Jane chasing the lamb but more often than not, the lamb following Jane. At last both were worn out, and Jane sank to the grass to catch her breath. The lamb stood in front of her while Jane patted its dark coat. So intent were Jane and the lamb with each other, neither one noticed Grandma coming over with the camera.
    “Are you having fun, Jane?”
    Jane looked up and grinned. “Oh, Grandma! Mary can play tag with me! We love each other, don’t we?” Jane pulled the small thing close to her and kissed its nose. “Now I won’t ever be lonely again,” she added with a whisper in the little charcoal ear.
    “Baa” answered the lamb and folding its legs up, laid its woolly head in Jane’s lap and closed its eyes.
 

 

Two Dollars and a Knife

 Dear Michael,
    I have to tell you what happened on the 4th! When my family arrived at Grandpa’s, everyone else was already there dressed in colonial outfits like usual for the 4th. After greeting everyone, I wondered off towards the woods. I hadn’t gotten far when I noticed something on a tree several yards ahead. Drawing closer, I noticed two $1.00 bills pinned to the tree with a knife! I thought, “Grandpa doesn’t usually leave money on trees. Why is it here?” Thinking perhaps it was Dad’s or one of the uncles knifes, I ran to see. Nope, each still had their knife. Puzzled, I stood staring out the kitchen window. So lost in thought was I that I started when Grandpa dropped his hand on my shoulder asking, “What’re you up to Patrick?”
    “I’m. . . Grandpa, did you stick $2.00 on a tree with a knife?” I blurted the question out quickly. Grandpa looked astonished but shook his head suggesting I go look again to find out more. Needing no urging, I rushed outside, leapt off the porch and raced to the tree. Everything looked the same. As I closely examined the money and knife, I began to feel as though I was being watched! Slowly I turned my head, eyes scanning the trees and bushes. A sudden sneeze, whirled me around to see an older man.
    “Your last name Henry?” the man asked
    “Yes, sir.”
    “Take that knife and money to your grandfather. See what he says.”

    After another quick glance at the man, I obeyed. Hurrying as quickly as it was safe to, I reached the kitchen and opening the door called, “Grandpa! Where are you?”
    “Here.” His voice sounded from the living room.
    Stepping quickly in, I laid the knife and money in Grandpa’s lap. All was silent. Grandpa stared. His expression changing from bewilderment to disbelief and delight. Standing up suddenly, he exclaimed,
    “Corporal Klesingharper! Where is he?”
    Grandpa limped quickly to the back porch.
    “Klesingharper!” Grandpa’s shout brought everyone including the man I had seen. At sight of him, knife and money dropped from Grandpa’s hands as he started for the stairs. I hurried to his side knowing he wasn’t very good on steps. His hand trembled on my shoulder as we slowly descended the last step. Across the lawn, we met the stranger. After a long embrace, Grandpa, his voice chocked with emotion invited him in. So, together we walked back to the porch where the family all waited.
    To make a long story short. Grandpa and Corporal Klesingharper both fought on Guadalcanal in ‘42. They were great friends. Once Grandpa lent Corporal Klesingharper $2.00. He promising to repay him. Klesingharper became seriously injured and just before he was sent back to the States, Grandpa gave him his knife. They hadn’t seen or heard from each other since that time until the 4th. It was quite thrilling listening to their talk about Guadalcanal and the Solomon Islands.
                    Your Cousin,
                        Patrick

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